


Lab-Rat 44!

by desiallen16, Vivvy



Series: Code:X [1]
Category: Cross over fandom fusion, Fringe (TV), Original Work, Science Fiction - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-23
Packaged: 2019-05-26 23:16:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 21,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15011540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desiallen16/pseuds/desiallen16, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivvy/pseuds/Vivvy
Summary: In th year 2020, there is world peace. There are no major wars going on, and all is okay. Not all are happy with this peace, however. Like Genera Rodriguez, from USA. He sends assassins out into different countries to kill important leaders, and frame the deaths on different places. This starts his world war, and to give the USA that little push it needs, he hires Dr. Howl Ruval, a fringe scientist, to create super soldiers.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first real attempt at writing and publishing any of my stories, this is actually a collaboration between me and my sister! Please have patience with me, I will get better! Thank you for reading my story!

In the year 2020, the world was at peace. There was still strife and struggle, but there were no major wars going on. The world's countries were no longer attacking each other. There were still a lot of people who didn't fully agree on this peace, however. They believed their country was the most powerful, and that other countries should bow down to them. Like General Rodriguez, who was a Mexican-American General from the USA. He believed that America should be in control of all the other countries, and he wanted to make it happen- by any means necessary.  
Rodriguez formed a secret alliance between two other countries- South Korea and Russia, who each agreed to send out assassins to different countries and frame them on each other, killing important leaders to each country. This worked exactly like Rodriguez had planned, plotting each country against one another and starting a world war. They didn't bring anyone to using bombs, as they never committed mass genocide, so there was no use for bombs. As his plan pursued and unfolded, he decided to give the world a little push. His plan was to have fringe scientists- scientists who believed in theories unacceptable by the main stream- create super soldiers, to send into other countries and force them to oblige by America's rules.  
That's where he hired Dr. Howl Ruval. Howl was a scientist who had two partners, Charlie and Nathaniel. They were biological anthropologists who dabbled and theorized in Fringe science as more of a hobby, rather than a way of living. He was led to Howl by the manager of the workplace, and he decided he would be best to hire. He provided him with a secluded facility away from society, an elite team of scientists, and enough money to provide for test subjects. Nathan, who was part of the team, put out the idea to hire women to carry babies for them that were meant only to be test subjects, as starting any later than infancy would be like a drug to the children, it would cause more harm.  
They followed that plan, taking only ten women every year. The separated the children by ten Codes. The oldest kids were in the first codes, the youngest in the further ones. The Codes went White, Gray, Yellow, Green, Orange, Blue, Purple, Black, Red, and Brown. They repeated this for ten years, and got forty eight children. Two or three of them died in the process. Code Red was the only code lacking children, and it had three kids in it, where as the other codes all had five. After each child was born, they were branded with a bar code and their identification number in their skin, on their right shoulder. Charlie began working on a project, making test tube babies. He made twins, in case one didn't make it. Their identification numbers were forty three and forty four. They, unlike the other kids, had their bar codes and numbers above their right eye, to signify the difference between them and the others. They were placed in Code Red.  
This whole project was known as "Code:X." Meaning the ten separate codes. Howl slowly lost his mind over the years, not recognizing the children as human beings anymore, getting a god complex. It happened slowly, but surely. Charlie and Nathan started realizing it, and feeling guilty for what they were doing. Most of the kids died due to their abilities combusting or killing each other with their abilities. There was the pyro twins, only one of them survived. The boy died of spontaneous human combustion, taking out a couple kids with him. The girl survived with minor burns. Another child, took out the entirety of Code Blue by melting their brains, killing herself by exploding her own brain right after. And another, an empath, made about fifteen to twenty children and staff members alike kill themselves before killing himself shortly after.  
As Charlie and Nathaniel started growing more and more guilty, more children died. It boiled down to about eight surviving kids. Numbers one, two, three, ten, fifteen, twenty, forty four, and forty three.Three was the oldest, at twelve years old, and forty four and forty three were the youngest, and five years old. The rest ranged from six to ten. Forty four and forty three were the strongest, as they had telekinesis, energy projection, and electrokineses. All of the other kids only had one ability, and even Fifty, who was from the strongest code- Code Brown, was glitchy. He was an empath, but his ability didn't work most of the time. Forty Four and Forty Three were the perfect super soldiers.  
Nathan couldn't stand doing this any longer, and got Charlie to help him kidnap the children. One night when Howl was busy planning tests, they got the surviving eight together and ran. Howl eventually realized they were gone, and gathered the guards and sent them after them. During the escape, Three was holding onto Forty Three and Forty Four when Forty three was shot and killed. He panicked and let go of Forty Four, who was frozen in shock and ran, leaving him behind. Charlie and Nathan had went to Rodriguez and showed him that the experiment was a failure, hiding the surviving kids and telling him that they all died. Upon seeing this, he reluctantly closed the project and took away permission.  
Howl kept Forty Four and continued testing on him, torturing him daily. This turned his jet black hair to a shock white, and made his bright golden eyes dim down to a pastel yellow, almost. Forty Four grew angry, and vengeful, as he'd been left behind. He was the final experiment, until Howl began paying adults to be his test subjects- willingly. He began having more successes, and showed Rodriguez, who then granted him permission to open the case back up as long as they were all of full consent and no one died. Things continued this way for years, until Howl finally saw what he was doing was wrong, and had the other doctors cut out the part of his brain that was making him so evil.  
This brought his mental complicity down to five year old status, but he still had an extremely high IQ. He became very loving, and was very apologetic towards Forty Four, who'd began to love him as a father.  
I am Forty Four, and this is my story.


	2. The Beggining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After being given strict orders from General Rodriguez himself to either terminate or neutralize the surviving seven members of the Code:X project that was shut down six years prior, Howl and Forty Four begin to uncover something much darker than they had initially planned.

Chapter One

Forty Four was in his own little world. He was now eighteen, and slowly becoming a protege to Howl and the other scientists. Code:X was shut down when Forty Four was twelve years old, and hadn't been opened up sense. Not all of the scientists agreed on it, and so they left. Howl had continued his work as a scientist, but had sense moved on from his past. He was still able to do research, he just wasn't matured enough anymore to be trusted with experiments, at least, not alone.   
Forty Four would help him with everything he did happily, and was becoming a scientist himself. He was in his own lab, zoned out, staring at his hands, which started to spark. He wasn't focused, and was letting his body and mind relax a little too much. The lights flickered slightly and Olivia, an older scientist there, cane in and shook his shoulders gently. "Forty Four? Is something the matter?" She asked. Her voice was void, she didn't really care for his well being, rather, she wanted to make sure he wasn't going to combust or kill everyone in the building on accident. Ever sense Howl started treating more like a human when he stopped the project, everyone here had treated him like he was still a lab rat.   
He was fine with it in all honesty. He didn't know anything else. "Nothing," He said quietly. His voice was also void of emotion. After being betrayed and forgotten, then tormented for years on end, he'd grown monotone and emotionless. He wasn't hurting or upset anymore, just existing. The only time he ever showed real emotion was with Howl. He got up, gently moving past the woman. "Where is Howl?" He asked. "Dr. Ruval is in his office. He was rambling about his favorite drink when I left him." She answered with annoyance.   
Forty Four looked at her with slight anger, catching the annoyance in her voice. "Ah.. I see." He responded. He went to Howl's office, searching for him. The old man was hunched over a microscope, examining god knows what. "Ah, Forty Four.." He said, sounding distant. He didn't even have to look up to know it was him. He'd memorized the almost silent footsteps and the pattern in which the boy walked. "Come look at this." He asked. Forty Four obliged, and made his way over. Howl moved aside so he could look in on whatever it was he was looking at.   
It looked like normal bacteria. "I see. What is it?" The boy asked, gently holding his snowy white bangs out of his face to see. "It's a sample I had extracted from one of the patients here." Howl answered proudly. "Oh," Forty Four responded. "What's it's significance?" He asked. "It's spirochete. But I don't know what type, I can't place my finger on it." Forty Four nodded, looking at it again. "One of the more common types, actually. Treponema pallidum. Who did you extract this from? A patient?" He asked. Howl's mind trailed off. "I crave one of my old favorite drinks. They don't make it any more, you know. Have I ever told you about Frutopia?" He asked. Forty Four nodded patiently. "You have. It was before my time. It got its inspiration in the 60's or 70's, around when you were born."   
Forty Four had been well educated in this many times before, as the man now forgot almost everything he said and had random spurts of wanting to chat about it all the time. "Oh.. when did I tell you?" He asked, and as Forty Four began to respond the man jumped back into reality. "I took this sample from patient in room four-hundred." He responded. "He subjected himself to testing for disease, seeing how many diseases a human body can be infected with at a time." he explained. "We recently injected him with Lyme Disease and syphilis." Forty Four bowed his head. "He did, did he?" He said quietly. "He should be tested for both." Forty Four ordered one of the scientists passing by to run tests. "How long has he been here? How long has this test been going on?" "About a week." Howl answered honestly.  
Just then, an all too familiar face barged in. The man was wearing the satire of an army general, and his hair was sleeked back. It was Rodriguez. "Doctor Howl Ruval?" He asked, walking to the man and shaking his hand. Howl shook his, smiling at the man. Rodriguez smiled, glancing down at Forty Four. "Who is this?" He asked, never formally meeting the boy before. "This is Forty Four. He's one of the best workers I have here." Howl answered. "Workers? He looks twelve-" "I'm eighteen, for your Information, and I'm not a worker yet. I'm simply an assistant." Forty Four cut him off.   
Rodriguez bowed his head. "My apologies. But.. what's with the number name?" He asked. Howl didn't have much sanity left, but he knew that if Rodriguez found out Forty Four was a successful experiment from the Code:X project, he would be taken away and used. "It's a nick name, we came up with it when he arrived here." He answered wrote Forty Four even could. "Why that, though?" He asked. "Why Forty Four?" "His favorite number. His real name is Gram." Howl picked a random name.  
"He hates his real name so we nick named him." Rodriguez nodded, losing interest. "Anyway. I came here today because there's been a rise in suspicious activity and murders. It looks as though someone is attempting to duplicate your previous attempt at making super soldiers. We have an idea on who it is," he explained. "The survivors of the original Code:X experiment. We understand that there was at least six or seven children that escaped. We believe that they are attempting to copy what you did, and it is very destructive." Forty Four's stomach churned at the thoughts of those people. They left him behind. Left him for dead.   
This is when all of his bottled up anger came out, and his eyes burned with tears. He fought them back, balling his fists up. "Why do you tell me this?" Howl asked. "Because. You're the only one who has the recourses and knowledge on how to find them. We are asking you to terminate them, or neutralize their abilities and convince them to stop what they're doing." The general ordered. "He can't do that." Forty Four interrupted. "He can hardly stay focused on anything longer than a minute!" Rodriguez raised a brow. "I know. Because of the incident." He said softly. "We created pills that will help him stay.. normal, for a temporary amount of time." He handed Howl a small orange container.   
Howl glanced at it, and Forty Four snatched it away. "What is this.." He read over everything on the bottle. "I've not seen a drug like this." He said protectively. "Have you tested it? Is it safe?" He asked. Rodriguez bowed his head. "Yes, sir. We had other doctors create it. It's perfectly safe, and it will return his sanity for 24 hours. There are about thirty six pills in that container, certainly enough for him to create a neutralization cure for the experiments, or perhaps to terminate them." He explained.   
Forty Four kept a snarled look, but decided to trust the man. "Okay. What do we get out of it?" He asked. "We?" Rodriguez questioned. "Do you seriously think I'm letting him do it alone?" The boy hated saying it. He didn't even want to imagine seeing those faces again. "We will create a neutralization cure, we will track them all down, and we will go deal with them. Have a problem? Then we won't do it at all." He snapped. Howl placed a hand on his shoulder reassuringly and smiled at Rodriguez. "We'll do it. You can be sure of that, now.. I think it's time we get started. Olivia, could you please show this gentleman out?" He asked politely.   
Olivia nodded and did as told. Forty Four turned to Howl with a look. "I don't want to." He admitted, his voice shaky. "I don't want to see them again.." Howl got a look on his face, having a mood swing. He grabbed the boy and pulled him into a tight hug, holding him closely and running his fingers through his hair. "I'm so sorry. I would take it all back in a heartbeat." He said softly. Forty Four held on, liking the embrace. "It's okay." He said. "That was a different you. It's not your fault. It's just.." he started. "They abandoned me. I loved them like family and they left."   
Howl nodded. "You don't have to join me." He pushed the boy away a bit. "I can do it alone." He popped one of the pills, wanting to get started. "You can't." Forty Four said quietly. H wouldn't let Howl do anything on his own. "I will be fine helping you." The boy shook off the emotion, going back to being monotone. Howl looked sympathetically at the boy, hating seeing him this way. He knew he'd taken away any normality the boy ever had. Forty four looked him over. "Feel alright? Did that pill work?" He asked.  
  "I feel fine." Howl responded, leading him to the lab. "We must get started, we only have twenty four hours, yes?" Howl was completely there for once. Forty Four was hesitant, watching his every move like a hawk. The last time Howl was all there, and completely sane, was when the boy was twelve years old and an experiment to an evil bastard. Howl turned and looked at him, realizing he was scared. "Do not be afraid, Forty Four. I'm not going to hurt you, he didn't put back that part of my mind. He only restored my sanity."    
   The other scientists watched in amazement. "How is he back?" Olivia asked. "What happened?" Indonisiel, another scientist there questioned. "No time for questions," Howl ordered. "We need to create a neutralization cure. And quickly. Get to work!" He ordered. Everyone kind of scrambled about for a few minutes before getting to work, and Howl snickered at it. "I'm back in business, baby!" He exclaimed, laughing a bit. He glanced at Forty Four. "Are you sure you want to stick around for this? It hits home pretty hard." He said softly to the boy, who nodded carefully. "I still don't want you to be alone." He said.   
   They simply kidnapped a few of the adults they had payed previously to test the drugs, which proved successful, and sent them on their way. They had created a drug that if injected directly into the veins, preferably in the neck, the medicine could travel through the blood stream and to the brain and could shut off the reactors in the brain that were activated all those years ago during the experiments. They proved otherwise harmless to the human body, so Howl decided that it was safe to use on the kids, now adults. "So how do we find them?" Forty Four asked quietly. Sense this whole experiment was dug up, he'd been acting more moody and distant. Howl had realized this. "I will find them by myself." He said. "No you won't." Forty Four ordered. "I don't care what you say, I'm coming with you. You can't get close enough to them to inject them. I can manipulate their trust. They would still trust me because I'm one of them!" He said. "You're the one who hurt them! They will never trust you."   
   Howl looked a little hurt. "I see.." he said quietly. Forty Four realized he'd hurt him and shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'm just stressed." Howl nodded, getting logged into one of the computers. "Anyway." He said, clearing his throat. "They put off signals. Sense their bodies were altered and their minds, they give off different signals that can be picked up if we just activate.." he trailed off, clicking on a couple things. Forty Four glanced over his shoulder, watching what he was doing. A map appeared on the screen that looked a bit like google maps, but there was a slight difference. There were little yellow glowing dots. "What are those? Are those the survivors?" He asked, pointing to them.  
"Bingo," Howl smiled. "They aren't too spread out. It looks like they've tried to stay together over the years." He shrugged. "Smart.. that might make this a little harder." He drowned. Forty Four raised a brow. "Can we edit the drug slightly? So that it has narcotics. So that a side affect is that they are knocked unconscious for a few hours to maybe a day. So that we have enough time to get to each of them without anyone getting in the way." He ordered. Howl nodded and told Indonisiel to do exactly that, which he did.   
With that, the two headed out. "You stay in the car when we get there, Okay?" Forty Four ordered Howl. "Alright." "Who are we going for first?" "Whoever this dot right here is." Howl pointed to the nearest dot. "You can figure that out when you get inside. Are you sure you want to do this? Or that you don't want me to come in there?" He asked. "I'm sure. Stop asking." Forty Four ordered. Howl nodded in response, keeping quiet.  
  The room wasn't like the others, the tables were arranged in a messy circle around the center table where a tall, husky looking man sat on the desk. When Janet opened the door, the connection was so strong Forty Four instantly knew who the man was. "Ten.." he mumbled. "What is it?" Janet asked, and Forty Four shook his head. "This is Mr. Aki. He's an art teacher," she explained as Mr. Aki finished his lesson, seeming a little uneasy, and went to the door. He looked Forty Four over, and almost instantly knew who he was. For a second, you could almost see a tear in his eyes. "Hello," He said, still looking at the boy as Janet began her introduction. Forty Four hid his angry look with a smile. "He knows who I am, Janet. He knew me as a child." Forty Four interrupted her.   
   She looked surprised. "Actually, can I speak with him in private for a moment?" The man asked. "You babysit my class..." he walked out into the hallway, letting the woman take his place and he closed the door behind her. "Forty Four.. is it really you? Your hair.." he said softly. Forty Four knew he had to put on an act, pretending to be happy and bubbly the way he was before he was betrayed. "Ten?" He asked, smiling. "How are you? It's been so long." The man bowed his head. "We don't go by identification numbers anymore.. we all have names now. Mine is Sangcho." Forty Four nodded.   
   "I didn't know you got out.." he said, wrapping his arms around the boy. "I didn't. Not until today." Sangcho's heart dropped. "What?" He asked in a grim tone. "After you all left me, he kept me there. It's why my hair is white now." Sangcho wanted to cry. "Forty Four I'm so sorry. I'm so.. so sorry." He stammered out. "We didn't know, I swear we didn't. We thought you died with Forty Three," "Fifty never told you he let go of my hand and ran away?" He asked, not believing Sangcho. "It's okay now..." he said softly, going for another hug, this time plunging the syringe into his neck.   
   Sangcho yelped and grabbed his neck, quickly pulling away and looking up at him. "I just gave you a neutralization cure, it will take away your ability. If you try and hunt me down, or the facility, or try to get or abilities back, you will be terminated immediately. Stay away from science. You will pass out in.. about ten seconds." He snarled. As the man dropped, he hid the syringe in his clothes and put on an act. "Janet!" He screamed. She came rushing out. "What happened?" She asked, going to the phone and calling for help. "We were talking and he just collapsed, he hugged me and I tried to hold him up but I couldn't, I'm sorry.." he said. "It's not your fault, Gram," she said quietly.   
   He asked to go to the restroom and instead, snuck out of the building and to Howl's car. "I did it." He said, returning to a monotone state. "It was number Ten. He's a teacher." He said. "He's neutralized." "Good job, Forty Four.." He said quietly. "Next stop." They drove on, not speaking to each other. The next stop was at a Walmart. "Go find whoever it is that's in there.. want me to come with you?" He asked. Forty Four shot him a look of anger. "I told you not to ask anymore. I want to do it alone." He got out of the car, grabbing a syringe. He walked in, searching. After a while of walking around he felt a connection, and saw her. Number Two.   
She had to have felt it, too, because she got noticeably more alert, looking around. She didn't look uneasy, as she probably thought it was one of the other Codes. Forty Four quietly stalked up behind her, not giving time for a sob story. He plunged it into her neck, starting his speech on what was to happen. "Number Two. Your powers will be neutralized due to what I just gave you, and you are to return to a normal life. If you come after me, the facility, or in search of gaining your abilities back, you will be killed. You are going to go unconscious in a matter of seconds, and I'll call security for you." As she dropped, he did as he promised, calling Walmart security to get her to a safe spot and call a hospital.  
He went back out to the car, sitting with Howl. "Number Two. Neutralized." He didn't explain himself this time. "She didn't even get to see what hit her." He bragged. Howl looked at him. "You're good at this." He said with a smile. "Glad I have you here..." they started to drive, watching the dots. They were moving around slightly, but not drastically. Like they were just doing random things. Howl chose one that stayed in one place the longest, the place nearest to them. It was a hospital. "This is a hospital.." he said quietly. "What? Are you actually worried for them?" Forty Four asked, angrily. "Why?" "I'm not..." Howl responded. "Worried for you." He finished. Forty Four raised an eyebrow. "Well. I'm going in." He started to get out. "How exactly do you plan to get in there?" Howl asked. "They have higher security at hospitals." "Well we have this bastard in the palm of our hands. Can we find out if they're a doctor or a patient? That will make this a whole lot easier you know." He complained.   
"I don't know-" "well figure it out." Howl fidgeted with the electronic a bit, adjusting the settings. He smiled and said, "I got it. They're a doctor here for the trauma center." "Which one is it?" Forty Four asked. "Fifteen." Forty Four nodded slightly. "Trauma center?" He asked. "I can do that." He stepped out of the car, using his electrokineses to absorb energy from the hospital and shoot it at the ground, so it didn't affect anyone else, but there were major burns on his palms and up his arms. He looked at the burns and showed Howl. "Is that enough to warrant a visit?" He asked. "Sure is." Howl responded.   
Forty Four went into the hospital and straight to the trauma center, and put on an act that he was in tremendous pain. Crying and whining loudly as any burn victim would. He felt the connection growing as he was led to a room, and then he walked in. Fifteen. He didn't seem to notice much at all, he was too concerned for the wounds. He did procedure and finished by wrapping his arms up, only then realizing who it was. "Forty Four?" He asked, his eyes meeting the dull ones of Forty Four. "Is it really you? When.." he asked. "Today. I got out today." He said quietly. "Thanks for bandaging me up, pal." He attacked. Plunging the syringe in. Fifteen yelped loudly, grabbing his neck woozily. "What.." He stammered. "A neutralization injection. You will wake up without abilities.. and you will return to a normal life. You try ANYTHING and we will not hesitate to kill you." He got up, and left. Going back out to Howl. "No trouble with him. Didn't even notice it was me. Not until the end." "The end? You didn't kill him, did you?" "I didn't. I didn't kill any of them, that's the whole fucking reason we are working so hard."   
Howl drove on to a café, parking and going inside. This is where one of the other codes were, Forty Four looked down at the electronic and followed him inside. "What are you doing? Are you crazy?" He asked. "No. I'm thirsty. I'm ordering coffee and you're doing your job." They made it inside and sat at the counter, Forty Four growing angry at this. Howl would only make it harder to get close to any one of the codes without them being uncomfortable. They wouldn't have their guard down, making it harder for Forty Four get to them.   
   The connection was weaker this time, but there. He looked around and saw the waiter. He was a scrawny thing with long, straight brown hair. While Howl ordered, Forty Four went and struck up conversation, keeping the boy's eyes on him. He couldn't have been over a year older. Maybe nineteen or twenty years old. "Number One." He said softly. "That you?" He asked. "Forty Four.." He said softly. He obviously had a strange vibe about him. Like he didn't have his guard down like the others. He kept a small distance away from him. Had he seen Howl?  
   Forty Four glanced in Howl's direction, he was gone, he must've gotten his coffee and went out to wait. Forty Four tried to make it quick. Grabbing One's hand and holding him still while he injected him and told him the procedure "find us and you die." But he wasn't really fighting that. Instead, he smiled and warn d him sleepily. "Use that on them." He said softly, before hitting the ground. "Them? Who's them?" He asked silently, before a younger red headed boy came out of nowhere and grabbed him. "Forty Four!" He yelled. The boy seemed energetic and wild, hyper. His eyes were bloodshot and glowing green.   
   "What the hell?" Forty Four snarled And electrocuted the boy, snarling still. The boy yelped but let go, jolting around. His hands lit up as he thew a jolt of electricity back at Forty Four. "Haha!" Forty Four yelped loudly and collapsed, holding his stomach- where he was hit. He hadn't experienced real pain in years. "What the fuck?" He yelled. "What are you?" The boy smiled. "I'm Daniel!" He smiled. Twitching a little. Forty Four quickly got up and booked it outside, wanting help from Howl. The boy followed. "Nope!" He screamed, mimicking all of Forty Four's abilities. He grabbed him up with telekinesis and threw him at the ground.  
  Forty Four puked on impact, curling up. He forced himself to stand, shakily. When he saw the boy eyeing Howl, who'd gotten out of the car, he snapped. "You will not hurt him!" He snarled, finally gaining the strength back to conjure up his abilities. His eyes lit up and the bandages burned off of his arms as he prepared for attack. "What are you?" He asked again. "I am you, but better!" The boy responded, leaping at him.   
   When the boy touched him, he let out a huge volt of electricity, electrocuting the boy and burning him. The boy screamed and dropped to the ground. "Howl, get the neutralization medicine!" He ordered, remembering what One had said. Use that on them. He held the boy still with telekinesis while Howl got the medicine and impaled it into his neck. The boy's eyes rolled to the back of his head after a few seconds and he laid there, unconscious. "Damn.." Forty Four said sleepily as his nose began to bleed.   
   "Come on," Howl said quickly as people started to gather around. "We have to get him- and you, to the facility," he said softly, grabbing up Daniel and pulling him to the car. Forty Four stumbled after them. Something about this kid drained his energy, as if the boy was feeding off of him. He was unconscious as soon as he sat down in the car. When he awoke, he was back in the facility, laying on a table, in nothing but jeans. He drowsily looked himself over. He was bandaged and hooked up to a few machines and IVs. He sat up, coughing. "You're awake." Indonisiel said. "I'll get Howl. Don't try to get up, your body is weak. That boy took a lot from you." He said, as he left the room.   
   The boy. Daniel. Forty Four yelped at the memory and turned to look and see if the boy was here, too. They were in the infirmary. The boy lay in a bed next to him, still unconscious. He was covered in bandages and scars. He was in boxers. Howl walked in, smiling. "I'm happy you're alright. You scared me." Howl said. "What the hell is he?" Forty Four asked. "He had empathic mimicry. He was simply draining your abilities and using them for himself. But he can't do that anymore. The injection took away his abilities." Howl explained.   
   "Number One Warned me about him before he fell asleep." "He did, did he?" Howl asked, taking a seat next to his bed. "He said to use the same injection on them." "Them? So there's more?" Howl asked, scratching his head. "It looks like whoever was killing all those people are finally succeeding." "Do you think it was Number One?" "I doubt it. He wouldn't have told you to do that if he was the one to create him. He wouldn't have wanted to terminate his success." Howl shook his head. "I doubt it was the survivors at all. But we should still neutralize the remaining two. They might come after us for hurting the others."   
   "We don't have long, then." Forty Four said, pulling out the IVs and unhooking himself, wrapping bandages around the fresh wounds. He got dressed, against what Howl was saying. "Stop! You need to rest, you can't be up so fast," he warned. "You can't go alone. Especially if there's more of those fucking copycat creations out there!" Forty Four yelled. He was beyond angry. "You're getting hostile and you need to calm down." Howl said softly. Forty Four nodded, taking a deep breath. "The narcotics wear off after twenty four hours, along with your medication. We have to hurry." "We still have eighteen hours." Howl argued. "We will be fine if you rest up a bit." "I don't care I want to finish this." He said softly.   
    Howl gave in, knowing he couldn't fight him. "We can go back to normal after we get rid of the last two, right?" He asked. "Hopefully." Howl responded. He knew it probably wouldn't happen, life wasn't that easy. But he didn't want to discourage Forty Four. The boy threw his shirt on, and walked out. Following close behind him was Howl. They went to the car and followed to the closest dot. It was at a bar. "Kinky bastard.." Howl joked quietly under his breath.  
  Forty Four ignored the joke and went inside, looking around. He went to the bar and sat down, feeling a connection to the bartender, who smiled a little at him. "Hey, Forty Four." He said quietly. His response was calm. "Long time no see." "Number twenty," Forty Four said. "How are you? I heard you changed your names." "I'm good. My name is Amarth. What's yours?" Forty Four thought for a second before responding. "Gram." He finally responded. "Gram?" Amarth asked. "That's nice." "So I've heard."   
   Forty Four shivered. "Well. I have a few questions.." he started. "Do you know about the copycat?" He asked. "Copycat? The one behind the recent murders? Yeah.. I think we all do." "They created superhumans." Forty Four said softly. "They succeeded. But we think it messes with their minds." "We?" Amarth asked. "Yes. We." Forty Four waited until no one was looking, and grabbed the man by his hair and pulled him down. He didn't get anything out of him and he saw him as useless, any information he could give. So he injected him. He began his rant, "you find us you die." And left.   
  Before he went unconscious, Amarth managed to call Number Fifty. "Amarth? What's wrong?" "Cody.. Forty Four... did something.." he managed to stammer. He was losing consciousness and fast, but he was fighting it. Cody was the oldest, and he was extremely protective of the others. They all still lived together with Nathan and Charlie as guardians still, even if they were adults. They none felt safe going off on their own for reasons just like this. Cody panicked when Amarth didn't respond, and quickly rung up Charlie and Nathan. "Amarth is hurt! You need to go check on him and the others." He warned. Him? He was going to search for Forty Four.  
   After they both obliged, he started wandering around, looking for him. Meanwhile, in the car, Howl and Forty Four talked. "Maybe you should start going by that fake name. Gram." "Why?" Forty Four asked. "Because. It'll be better for you. You'll be able to live a more normal life." "What? What're you saying this for?" He asked, confused. "I want you to have a life like they did. You can continue working at the facility, but you shouldn't continue being recognized as a number. It's unfair. No one views you as human at the lab besides me." Howl explained. "You don't deserve that. You never asked for this."   
   Forty Four looked at him. He could tell he meant what he Said. "Howl, this is normal to me. This is as normal as my life ever should be," He argued. Howl glanced at him. "That's it. It's normal to you. You don't know what it feels like to actually live. You can continue working at the lab but I want you to go by a real name now, you're not just an experiment anymore. You're like my son." Forty Four hushed himself and nodded, deciding not to fight. Today had been rough enough as it was. "Okay... I'll go by that from now on. Gram." He said, smiling a little. "It feels weird.."   
   "What? To have a name?" "To be human." They both glanced down at the map, and they were coming upon the final dot. "I have a bad feeling about this one," Gram admitted. "It's Fifty." "Whats so different?" "He's the one who abandoned me." Gram admitted. "I don't want to get near him." "He can't hurt you ever again, Gram." Howl said softly. "You can take a gun and shoot the serum into him if you can't get close enough to inject him." Gram nodded. "Please." They finally came upon the dot, in a dark alley.   
   Howl shut the engine off and looked down the dark alleyway, getting a gun ready for Gram. "I can do it if you want. I'm not asking. Or trying to get you angry. I know this will hurt you." He said, soothingly. "No, Howl, I got it." Gram argued. He was stubborn. He took the gun when it was ready, and a syringe. He hid the gun under his shirt. "Promise we can go back to normal after this?" Gram asked. "I.. promise we can try." Howl said softly. He knew that it couldn't happen, the copycat will stir up more drama that they would have to deal with, but he knew it would hurt Gram if he flat out told him right now.  
Gram got out of the car after being reassured, and walked down the dark alleyway without hesitation or fear. The air was moist, and there was a sense of dread looming in the atmosphere. Gram held the syringe tightly, as he hid it under his sleeve. He looked around; the brick walls were spray painted with graffiti, trash laying on the cement. The place was nasty, and he'd only ever known the clean interior of the facility before. The only time he'd ever been in the real world before this, outside the facility, was for quick stress tests that the scientists conducted on him.   
"Congrats, you made it to the boss level, Forty Four." a voice rang out from seemingly nowhere. It reminded him of the times in the lab where he was tested on And voices would ring through the intercoms. "That's not my name anymore, Fifty." He snarled. "And that's not my name anymore. My name is Cody. Tell me yours." "Gram." He said softly, hiding his anger. "Where are you?" He asked. "If I come out, are you gonna stab me with that syringe you got?" Cody asked. "You're not very good at hiding it." Gram snarled his lip and dropped the syringe. "I'm not gonna Stab you. That was for my own protection. I got out of that place today." He lied. "Really?" He asked. "After all these years.." he said. "And the first thing you decide to do with your freedom is to track us all down and inject us? I know what you did to the others."   
"How did you know? Were you watching me?" Gram asked impatiently. "No. Amarth called me right before he was out. Nathan and Charlie gathered them and took them home." He said. "Care to fill me in on why you did it?" He said. "Was it simply for fun? For revenge?" He asked. "You didn't have to hurt them. I'm the one who let go of your hand, it's my fault that you were left behind and I'm sorry." He explained. "I panicked. I was a child... there's not a day that goes by that I don't hate myself for letting go." "Really? Then why didn't you ever come look for me." Gram said, he didn't say it as a question. "You never came. I waited. I waited years for you to come save me, for anyone to come save me. I was five years old and I watched most of my family die. Then I watched what was left leave me behind." He said. "And the worst part is I believed you would come back and save me. But you never did!" He drew energy from the buildings without meaning to, sending a bolt of electricity in Cody's direction and missing.   
Cody looked hurt. "Gram, we were children. Do you think we knew what to do? We were scared!" "So was I, Cody. I was fucking terrified. And hurt." He said, quietly. "I'm sorry." Cody said, finally. "I'm sorry I let go. I should have been the one left behind." He said quietly. Gram pulled the gun. "You aren't." Right as he pulled the trigger, Nathaniel came running out of nowhere. "Forty Four stop!" He screamed. Howl heard the scream and came running, as well. He stood with Gram, protectively. "Nate?" Howl asked. "Hello, Howl.." Nathan grabbed up Cody and lifted him, backing up. "don't come any closer." he warned.  
   Howl put his hands up as if surrendering. "I'm not going to." He said. "I'm so sorry for what I did in the past. I'm not trying to hurt you or any of the kids," he said. "I had strict orders. We- I, didn't want them to have to be killed. All we did was give them neutralizers. They can't use their abilities anymore," he explained. "Why?" Nathan asked. "Why would you do that?" "Because of the copycat killer." Howl answered. "What does that have to do with.." Nathan cut himself off. "You though we were the ones doing it?" He asked. "It's not us. We are just as clueless as you." He growled. "We thought it was you, actually." Howl shook his head. "First, we didn't think it was you. It was Rodriguez. He ordered us to neutralize their powers or have them killed. We saved them. And second.. it wasn't us. I shut the project down and practically lobotomized myself. I cut out that part of my mind so I'm different now. I wouldn't do that." He explained.  
   Nathan raised a brow. "You What?" He shook his head. "I can't believe you." He said. "Look at you, Forty Four... your hair.." he started. "That's not my name." Gram hissed. "It's Gram now." "I wouldn't imagine you having a name. Or freedom. I don't understand..." he started. "I already told you.. when he was twelve I fixed myself. He hasn't underwent any experiments sense then, it's been six years... in fact, he's becoming a scientist like us." He smiled. "He's happy."  
"He's happy?" He asked. "He doesn't look happy." He argued. "Maybe because I have to be here. I had to shoot him. See him again." Gram snarled. Nathan looked surprised at his anger. "I'm sorry." He said, looking back to Howl. "So you've really changed?" He asked, howl nodding. "Then.. I think we can come together. We can join forces to find the copycat killer." He said. "Rodriguez will continue to hound or blame you, and us, for this." He said softly. "If you allow us to come back... we could help you."   
Howl considered it. "I'm not sure. You took everything, I know what I was doing was wrong, but how do I trust you again?" He asked. Nathan laughed. "How do you trust us?" He asked. "Did you honestly just ask me that?" Gram got between the two, looking at Nathan. "Listen here.. you don't talk to Howl like that. It was a different him. He didn't mean to. If I can forgive him you should be able to, too." He started. "I don't want to hear you saying that again. If I do.." his hand sparked. "It'll be the last of you." He Warned. Nathan looked horrified. "Forty F-" "Gram." "Gram... what's gotten into you?" He asked. "You abandoned me. I stopped being the me you knew the day you left me there to die."  
   Gram had a deadly glare. He was angry, and anyone within ten miles could tell. Howl placed a hand on his shoulder. "Gram, calm down." He warned. Nate looked at him. "Well.." He said. "We should keep in touch. Maybe we can work something out." He said, civilly. "Charlie and I would love to get to know you again." Howl nodded slightly. "That sounds amazing." He smiled. Gram looked at him. "You promised we would be normal again!" He said accusingly. "Gram, you don't understand. I'll explain later." He said softly. "Maybe you and Charlie could come visit the lab." He said, back to Nathan. "We could talk more then." He said. "I assume Charlie is with the others, protecting them." He said. Nathan nodded.   
"You should take him home then." He said. "Me and Gram will return to the facility." Gram was shaking. He was angry, but he kept silent, folding his arms over his chest. "Well, it's been nice talking," Nathan Said. "Goodbye." He walked off, and Gram and Howl were left alone. "You promised we could go back to normal!" Gram snarled. "I've kept my patience with you, I love you, and you betrayed me just like they did!" He yelled. "Gram you don't understand." Howl said. "I loved them. We were family." He said. "I went insane. I ruined the relationship." He explained. "He's giving me a second chance.. I want to try to mend what I broke." "Oh please. You won't be mentally sober by tomorrow." Gram reminded. "You'll go right back to being wacko! A child!" He said.   
"I'll take the medicine one more day. Just to explain everything to them." Howl stated blankly. "That's what I want. Can't I have that?" He asked. Gram looked at him. "I can't believe this." He stormed off towards the car. Howl followed, and no more words were spoken the rest of that day. That night, however, when they were laying in their rooms, Gram heard Howl babbling. The medicine had worn off. He was babbling about the old experiments, the medicines that they used on the children, the results. His babbling had woken Gram up. "Howl?" He asked. "What are you doing?"   
"I couldn't sleep. I see you couldn't, either," "no.. not with you babbling like that." He agreed. "Just go to sleep." "Did you know your twin sister was actually slightly weaker than you? She didn't have the same abilities as you, of course, but hers weren't as strong." "I don't care, Howl." He said. "How could you not? After the events of today you don't want to discuss anything?" He asked. "I don't. I don't care. At all. I want to sleep." He complained, his hair was messy and his eyes were bloodshot from the night. Howl continued to babble, and then began counting.   
Gram rolled his eyes. "Just bis quiet..." he pleaded to no appeal. He started to sing. He sang the first song to come to mind. "You are my sunshine.. my only sunshine.." he started. Howl interrupted. "What are you doing?" "Just be quiet and close your eyes." He kept singing, he himself drifting away to sleep faster than Howl. But eventually, they were both asleep.  
Howl woke up and remembered to take his medicine before Gram even woke up. Usually, Gram was the first to wake up. Today, he was the last. He woke up, rubbing his eyes. He'd slept hard. There was a trail of saliva from his mouth, down his neck. His eyes were matted shut and his hair was a literal disaster. He yawned, looking around. He got up and stretched, and heard the rest of the scientists working outside. He got dressed and went to look for Howl. When he found him, the man was more than relaxed in his office. "Howl?" Gram asked. "Hello, sunshine." He smirked, referring to the night before. "I would have woke you earlier, you just looked so peaceful." Gram shook his head.  
  "It's alright. Thanks for letting me sleep." He smiled softly, but it soon faded as Howl began to talk again. "Nathan called me a bit ago, he and Charlie are coming here. They said Cody wanted to tag along." "Howl." He said sternly. "Why are you letting them come here? They aren't necessary." He said. "I already explained that to you, Gram, I want to." "And Cody? He's unnecessary. You never loved him." Gram said angrily. "He wants to come because of me and I know it." "Even so. You can't let your anger control you. You need to at least try." Howl smiled softly, as if he knew something Gram didn't. It pissed Gram off tremendously.  
"He wants to make it up to you." Gram shook his head. "Fine." He growled. Charlie was watching from the doorway. "Hello.." He said. "Nathan and Cody are getting food from the cafeteria." He said. "May I sit?" He asked. "Please," Howl gestured. Charlie sat down, dusting his knees off, and Gram sat cross legged on the corner of Howl's desk. "So.. from what Nathan told me, you've changed?" Charlie asked. Howl nodded. "I have. My apologies for everything. I honestly didn't mean to- Well- that doesn't make sense.. I'm just.. I'm sorry." Charlie shook his head. "So am I. We did take everything from you." Charlie said quietly. "And that was a dick move. You just.. went crazy. You went too far. It had to stop."   
"I shut down the entire project a couple years ago. It's only technically been opened by the copycat." He explained. "About that.. I.. may have some information." Charlie smiled. "I didn't share it with Nathan because he gets too invested sometimes. I know their plan of going about it is to kidnap minors and repeat some of the tests we had. I also have a little bit of an idea on who it is. The scientists who left a couple years ago, after you shit it down.. the ones who didn't agree on you ending it." He said.   
"They have motive and information." Howl agreed. "But there was so many. Do you think they stuck together or it's simply one of them?" He asked. "Honestly, it could be either. It could be anyone. That's just an idea." Charlie pointed out. "Oh.. by the way. I have one of their experiments here-" "you what?" Charlie put extreme emphasis on his question. "I didn't take him. Don't worry. He's here because he hurt Gram." "Wait. Explain this to me.." he asked. "We went yesterday to the café where Number One works. This little red headed kid, couldn't have been twelve years old.. he attacked. He knew who I was." Gram said softly. "He had empathic mimicry. He absorbed Gram's abilities and used them against him. We had to give him a neutralizer to get him to calm down." Added Howl.  
"So he knew who you were..? How is that?" "Number One also knew who he was." Gram added silently. "At least I think." Charlie's emotion went dark. "Wait." He said. "Number One went missing not too long ago. Me and Nathan have been searching for him- he was really at the café?" He asked. "Why didn't you call us or something so we could keep him safe? What the hell?" He got upset. "What did he say?" "When I gave him the neutralizer, before he passed out, he told me to use it on 'them'. Assuming he was talking about the other copycat experiments."   
"Take me to the boy." Charlie stood. "I need to talk to him." Howl got up and led Charlie to the room. Daniel was tied down to the bed, bound by wrists and ankles. He was wide awake now, and sickly. He was on oxygen, and his eyes had become sunken in. "This is the boy who attacked you?" Charlie asked Gram, who nodded obediently. Charlie pulled a chair beside the boy's bed, looking him over. "Hello.. what's your name?" He asked. "Daniel." The boy responded weakly. "I'm sick." He said. "I can see that.." Charlie looked sad, but hid it with sympathy in his voice. He could tell the child probably didn't have much longer to live.  
  "Can you tell me anything about where you were?" Charlie asked. "I don't remember a lot..." Daniel said sadly. "They has other sick kids. They hurt us a lot." He said. "But the hurting made me better.. I didn't feel sick anymore." He said quietly. "The more I absorbed from others the healthier I felt." He explained. "But.. the more I took the less control of myself I had.." Charlie nodded. "What's wrong with you? What's making you sick?" He asked. "I have terminal cancer." He answered. "I don't think I have much longer.." his tone then suddenly changed from sad and weak, to happy. "But that's okay. I've had fun."  
   This broke Charlie's heart, and he closed his eyes to fight back tears. He bowed his head. "Do you have family? Anything?" "No. They left me at the hospital. They never came to visit anymore.. the doctors told me they had cake to visit while I was asleep, but, I know that wasn't true.." he was drifting off to sleep as he spoke. This illness took a lot from him. "Shh.. it's okay. We're here for you now, we'll be your new family." Charlie promised, taking the boy's hand. He could tell, this was the boy's last moments. Daniel smiled a little, holding his hand tightly. His grip started to loosen and his eyes lost their light.   
   Charlie could tell he was gone, and rested his head on the bed. He hadn't witnessed a child's death in years, anyone's death, really. He couldn't stand this. It tore him apart. Howl gently placed a hand on his shoulder from behind. "Well.. we know where Number One is." He prompted. "He said they were sick children, Howl." Charlie argued. "Kenyon wasn't sick." "That's his name? Nice.." Howl smiled. "He wasn't sick, but he was from the original survivors. Maybe they're taking children that have no hope left, and when they can, they take parts of the original survivors. It would make sense, wouldn't it?" He asked. Charlie looked up at him. "You're right, actually. It makes sense. They would want the originals because they already have so much ability and strength, and no one can really go to the police for their disappearances because they're suppose to be dead anyway." Charlie thought out loud. "And because they couldn't have all of the survivors they took children who had no hope left!"   
   Howl nodded. "Call the next oldest survivor and earn them." He ordered. Charlie did as told, calling Amarth. "Hello? Amarth? It's me, Charlie. I need to to get your siblings and keep them safe. You won't be going to work for a while. Come to the facility." He spoke quickly. "You have to, it's for your own safety. Please? We have to protect you." Amarth finally agreed. "Thank you." Charlie said softly, hanging up. "They will be here soon. Amarth said they were all already at home anyway. They took a sick day because of the events that took place yesterday."   
   As he said that, Nathan and Cody walked in. "We've been looking all over the place for you." Nathan said. He crossed his arms and leaned on the door. "What's all this about? I caught the end of conversation. Not trying to be nosy." He smiled. While Howl filled him in, Gram stood over Daniel. He was emotionless, and his eyes were dull. He and Daniel weren't that different in all honesty, and the more he thought about it, the worse he felt. Cody watched him silently. "Gram, I'm sorry." He said after a moment. He knew the others were talking and wouldn't mind them having mini conversation. Gram glanced at him. "Thanks, everything is all better now." He said in a snarky tone.  
   Cody sighed. "Don't be like that. I'm trying, I swear I am." He said. "You're pissed at me, and have a right to be, but it's been years.." Gram didn't say anything, instead he bowed his head. "Okay." He said softly. "Really?" Cody asked. "Just like that? All is forgiven?" He asked. Gram bowed his head again. He didn't truly forgive him. But he decided not to argue. There was much more important things than how he felt about Cody. "Sure thing." He said silently. Cody had an uneasy feeling that Gram was Lying, but chose not to push his luck. "Well.. Maybe you can talk with the others, I'm sure they'll forgive you for yesterday." Forgive me for yesterday? Gram thought, more like hissed in his mind. "I don't need forgiving for yesterday. I saved them. They were going to be killed." He growled lowly.  
    "You're right." Cody threw his hands up in surrender. "I'm sure they'll understand that," he corrected himself. "Maybe you can come visi-" "they're all coming here. For safety." "What?" Cody asked. "Well if you listen to the adults talking maybe you would understand. I'm not explaining, and I doubt they'll do it again." He snapped, walking away from Daniel's poor body and into his own office, Cody following behind him. "Is this your office? You work here?" He asked. "I'm a protege. Yes." He answered. "I don't work with the things Howl did. I study psychology. But I do my studies here." He explained. "I don't like fringe science or anthropology like he does." Cody nodded.  
"And what do you work as?" Gram asked. "I'm an emergency medical technician. Part time, I do online college." Cody said softly. "I'm studying to become a doctor, like Aubry." He smiled. "Aubry works in trauma, specifically, I want to be a surgeon. The emt thing is like practice." He said. Gram nodded. "Interesting." He said, dully. He was still tired and stressed. Cody could tell. "Why don't you sleep? Where do you sleep?" He asked. "Like I would tell you," Gram shot back. He didn't mean to come off as rude that time. Just defensive.   
Cody grunted. "I was just asking.." he said softly. Gram shook his head, looking at him. "Well, maybe your friends are here. You should go greet them." He prompted. "And you should come with me." Cody said quietly as he wandered out of the room and into the long, eerie corridors. To Cody this whole place was eerie. It was full of nostalgia and terrible memories. But to Gram it was home. They wandered to the entrance, past the guards. There they were, the group, walking in. "How could you tell they were here?" Cody asked Gram who shrugged. "Luck." He responded, folding his arms over his chest and bowing his head.   
Amarth led the group, glaring at Gram. "You motherfucker!" Aubry yelled, launching at Gram. "You fucking stabbed me!" He snarled as Cody got in his way. "You don't understand, Aubs." He said softly. "He did it for your protection. The government wants to kill us. They're putting the blame for the copycat killings on us." He explained. "He neutralized our abilities so that we couldn't do anything." "And him? What about his abilities, are they neutralized?" He questioned, still angry. "They aren't, because the government doesn't know about his existence. They only know about ours because we escaped." He said. "Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Lilith asked. She wasn't angry, simply, confused. She was number two, from the Walmart. "I.. don't know," Cody answered. Gram's voice was quiet. "You all out of different signals than that of normal people. Now that you're neutralized you don't, but you did. Mine was masked because of the building, which in its entirety puts off a signal. So mine can't be detected." Amarth looked at him.   
   "Did you really do that to protect us?" He asked. "Sure did. You're welcome." He didn't sound sincere, but he sounded honest. Amarth didn't seem nearly as pissed as literally any of them. He accepted it. He understood Gram's anger. "Thanks. And thanks for letting us come here again," he said softly. Lilith looked up at him, confused. He looked at her. "What? Obviously a lot has changed.. this is his home after all." Gram honestly liked that he didn't question anything, and kept his distance. He didn't like being bombarded with questions or anything.   
  "He's right. You can stay in the infirmary. We just ordered for all tests to be shut down a day or so ago so there are no longer patients. There are enough beds for all of you there." He informed. "You should remember where everything is." He said, as he turned around and walked off. He wanted to be near Howl again. It soothes his mind. He went and found him and the other two, with the group following him. "They have arrived. I told them where they are to be staying." Gram said, going to Howl's side. He shot Charlie and Nathan a look. "This is his last pill. He will return to normal by tomorrow, and he will be different. Not any less helpful, but different." He explained. "And we aren't sorry for it." He hissed.  
Charlie bowed his head. "Howl already explained that to us. Its okay." He said. "I didn't ask if it was okay." Gram spat. Howl could tell he was acting so defensive because of the stress, and looked at him. "Are you h losing up okay?" He asked. "Sure." Gram responded quietly. "Not use to this." He said finally. "All of them. Being here." Howl nodded. "Why don't you go rest, then?" Howl asked. Gram shrugged. "I don't know." "Well, you should, it might help." He said softly. "I have to lay down a few ground rules anyway." He said, smiling. Hesitantly, Gram nodded and went to his room to sleep.   
His dreams were wild, of all the torment. Of being left behind. Of his screams. Of that song. "You are my sunshine." Playing in his dreams over and over again. Meanwhile, in the real world, his body was seizing. Sometimes it did that because of what took place all those years ago. Like fits. Mostly they happened in his sleep. When the lights started flickering in the building was when everyone would notice. Howl noticed the lights going in and out, and he instantly stopped talking to the group and turn off past them, where they followed.   
He went to Gram's room and watched. There was nothing he could really do to help him, when he had fits they had to wait them out. Cody didn't know that, and he tried to shake Gram awake. "Why is he doing that?" He turned and asked Howl in a panic. "Why aren't you doing anything to stop it?" Howl sighed. "You all don't experience them because you never reached the point in your abilities that he did, you're failures in the experiment, but he's not. Those are fits his body has, still adjusting to the difference. His brain can't really handle it. This fit is worse than most because of the stress.." he said softly. "We can't do anything to stop it. We've all tried. It's just a natural process now."   
Cody snarled at him, standing up. "You did this to him! It's your fault!" He growled, shoving him and getting chest to chest. "You bastard." Howl didn't fight back, he knew Cody was right. "I know. Like I said. I regret all of it." He said softly. Nathan was the one to push Cody away. "Calm yourself. He's allowing you to stay here. Do not push him." He ordered. Gram's body finally calmed down, and was still. Cody wanted so badly to shake him awake and make sure he was okay, fighting the urge. He knew Gram would be angry if he did that, and it wouldn't help the cause at all.   
    Instead, he shoved past Howl, mumbling angrily. "None of this would have ever happened if it weren't for you, Howl." He grabbed Amarth by the shoulder and pulled him aside. "I think we should kill him after all this is over." Amarth looked at him. "You're just angry. When you calm down you'll think this whole thing is stupid." Amarth shook his head. "You honestly let your emotions control you. A blessing and a curse." Cody shook his head. "I'm not letting my anger control me!" He argued. "I'm right." Aubry looked at him. He was down the hall. "You do kind of let your anger control you." He agreed with Amarth. "Coming from you, that means a lot." Cody said, teasingly. "You shut up." Aubry yelled.  
Howl watched them tease, silently. "They have so much potential," Howl said softly. "I ruined their lives.." "you didn't," Charlie said. "They live fine now... they're okay." Charlie put a hand on Howl's shoulder. "It's in the past." Nathan was watching. "Enough sob story. We have to find these bastards, and save Kenyon." He interrupted, going to one of the computer labs. "We know a lot from Daniel but we don't know enough." Howl watched him for a moment. "He's dead. He'd been dead for an hour or so, meaning it would be impossible to talk to him," he mumbled. "And that lab is probably going to kill the boy..." Nathan shot him a look. "Why are you still babbling? Unless you have something important I insist we start searching," Nathan grumbled. "Daniel could have known where the lab was." Howl mumbled.   
"We know that, Howl, but what good does it do to talk about a dead kid. If he knew we can't-" "we can." Howl said. "I know how to talk to the dead."


	3. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As they quickly begin to realize what’s going on and who’s behind it, Howl’s promise is broken and restored. Gram’s trust is almost complete,Evelyn restored in Cody after realizing Cody risked his life to save him.

  "You know how to do what?" Charlie asked. "We worked with you for years! We were married to you for years, and you never told us that?" "He didn't tell you because he didn't know how to until a couple years back." Gram's voice was groggy. "He basically overdoses you, on psychotics, and lays you in this machine, it's in the lab.. that rips a hole in your conscious reality." Nathan's jaw dropped. "That's... stupid." He said. "It's insane!" Cody yelled, intruding in on the conversation. "It's incredibly stupid." He said. "It's basically killing you." "Cody," Charlie hushed him. "Let us talk."    
Cody threw his hands in the air in amazement. "I can't believe you." He laughed.   
   "How exactly does it work, though? How do we talk to Daniel?" Charlie asked, ignoring Cody. "Well, that's part of the machine. The wires attach to your brain through the base of your skull," Howl explained, gently tapping the back of Charlie's head. "And we place another set of wires into the skull of the victim, Daniel, in this case." He said softly. "And if it works, you should be transferred to his unconsciousness and he will be able to show you where he was." Charlie looked at Nathan, who was still holding a concerned, amazed look. "He's crazy."he mumbled. "He's crazy... so crazy, that might work." He admitted. Cody rolled his eyes. "You're all fucking insane!" He yelled. Gram glanced at him with a smirk. "If you don't like it, leave. We can do it without you." Cody looked at him. "You are just like him." He sighed, starting to walk off, but coming back.   
   "Who exactly are we going to use to do this?" He asked, finally agreeing to the plan. Howl looked at him. "I don't know. Whoever wants to,I guess. Daniel's final moments were in fact with Charlie. So I think it would be best to send him in." Charlie looked at Howl with a slight bit of concern. "If you kill me, you will pay for it. This better work." He said quietly. Howl nodded, and led them to the lab in which the machine was in. He ordered Indonisiel to transport the boy's body to the lab, which he did, and the group sat up the experiment. Charlie stripped down to his boxers while Howl attached the wires to the boy's body, and then it was Charlie's turn. Nathan held his hands while Howl attached them, putting him in major discomfort. "This boy better be worth it.." Cody said silently as he watched, leaning against the wall.   
   "Of course he will be," Howl said quietly as he prepared the drugs. "This is it," he said, finishing up. He tapped the tiny syringe and injected it into Charlie's arm. "Come on,  Charlie.." he said softly, leading him to the machine and he,ping him in. The water was cold, and when Charlie laid down, it held him up. Howl smiled gently down at him and placed aha d on the side of his face, caressing his cheek with his thumb. "Please, be okay." He said, as he closed the huge door of the machine over him. He closed his eyes, and drifted away. At first it was just like falling asleep. Falling deeper and deeper into darkness, his body felt heavy. But then he was somewhere else. It was dark, and his feet were in some kind of liquid that didn't even come up to his ankles. "I think I'm here.. hello?" He called out, turning and looking around. He thought he could see slight lights In The distance, but the more he strained to see the harder it was.   
   "Hello?" A small voice called from behind. He turned around out of shock, and it was Daniel. "Hey, Daniel.." he said softly with a little smile. It was a sad smile, and he slowly made his way to the boy. "It's cold here." Daniel complained. "And dark." Charlie nodded in agreement. "It is." He said. "Why are you here?" Daniel asked softly. "Listen.." Charlie began. "Can you show me that place?" He asked. "What place?" Daniel crooks his head. "The place you were in, before you went to the café. The ones who hurt you. Show me anything, their faces, the place, anything." He pleaded. "I don't remember." Daniel shook his head. "I'm sorry." "I need you to remember, Daniel! I need you to do that, for me?" Charlie begged.  
In reality, Charlie was lying still, moving his mouth every now and then and making noises. Cameras inside the machine showed him on the computers to the group outside. With every move he made, Nathan would question Howl. Howl would respond with "it was nothing," or "unimportant, he's fine." Back in the world of Daniel's mind, Charlie was keeping patience. "I need you to remember.. so I can help the others." Daniel looked up at him. "You won't let them die, will you?" He asked."I won't. I promise. Just show me.. anything." He grabbed Daniel's hand and held it tight, and the darkness around them turned into memories. They were in a lab, being rolled down a hallway. The luminescent lights burning their eyes. Flash. They were in a room, sitting at a table, with another man.   
   Charlie knew that face. The round cheeks, the blue eyes. He knew the messy blonde hair. The scruffy beard. Yaka. It was Yaka, a scientist that had left the scene when Howl shut the project down. Flash. A building. The building looked secluded. Then, all of a sudden, he was pulled out. He woke up, shaking uncontrollably. "Yaka. It was Yaka..." he mumbled. Howl shook his head, wrapping a blanket around him and holding him close. "Okay." He said softly, more concerned for Charlie in that moment. The medicine had began to wear off, and he could feel it.   
   After Charlie finally recovered, he sat in the office with Nathan and Howl. "I saw him, it was Yaka," he said. "One of the scientists who left when you dropped Code:X. We were right." He explained. How, didn't seem to be listening, too focused on a weird wooden puzzle thing Gram brought to him. Nathan glanced at Howl, confused, and back at Charlie. "What else did you see?" Gram asked, propping himself up on the table. "I don't know.it was a building. Like this one but smaller, in the woods, it didnt look like any civilization was near it." Charlie stuttered. "Then you pulled me out. I didn't see a lot." He explained. "No it's okay." Cody said softly, watching Howl. "I can't believe it actually worked." He mumbled.   
  "A building, Yaka has a building of his own? How could that be," Howl mumbled silently. "He was either granted it by the government, which I highly doubt, or he found an abandoned facility." He said. "Maybe even high jacked one." Nathan looked at Him. "Right, which the only one of those that I think is highly plausible is high jacking one, he can't get one working all on his own without anyone finding out," Nathan explained. "Wait," Howl said softly. "I remembered something.." he said, right before trailing off and messing with the puzzle again. Gram smirked, knowing exactly what had happened,  and waited for everyone to lose their mind. "Howl?" Charlie asked after a moment of silence. "Yes?"Howl asked. "What did you remember?" Charlie questioned. "Oh, didn't I say?" Howl asked. "No.." Charlie mumbled. "Oh, well. It was really important," Howl started. "What was it.." Gram looked at him.   
   "Was it about the case, or your drink?" By now, Gram had learned his pattern. He really liked talking about drinks, if not the case. "Ah, yes! It was my drink." He mumbled. "Nathan, could you go get me a slushee? Maybe blue raspberry." Nathan looked absolutely astonished. "What? Howl did you even.." "you heard him, Nate," Gram smiled. "Go get him a slushee. Blue raspberry. ASAP." He ordered. Nathan sighed and got up. "Fine." He groaned. "Don't be a child. You just have to be patient with him, he warned you he wouldn't be the same." Gram barked. Nathan rolled his eyes, walking out of the place. "Yeah, sure," he mumbled as he left. Charlie looked at Howl. "I didn't expect him to mean this." He said softly. "He doesn't pay attention, and he loses interest.." he complained. Gram looked at him. "Yeah, he does," he started. "But there is no going back. I don’t want to go back, and neither does he.” Gram said quietly. “I know.” Charlie agreed. “But how do you deal with it everyday?” He asked. “I mean.. do you not lose patience? Ever?” “I don’t. Because I love him. And if you still loved him, you wouldn’t either. You would get use to it.”   
Charlie bowed his head. Howl snapped back to reality. He quickly got on his computer and searched for the map that he used to track down all of the survivors. “Howl?” Gram asked. “Hush, I need concentration.” Howl ordered. He scanned through the maps. “There. That building. Somehow they’ve managed to mask it, but it’s there. It’s showing the same signals that all of the survivors showed.” He pointed. “Where is Nathan with my slushee?” He asked. Gram smiled. “Let’s go, then.”   
Meanwhile, Nathan was driving out to get the slushee, thinking aloud. “So a high jacked facility.. fucking great. How exactly are we supposed to find that- well, I suppose if the kids there put off the same signals that ours did it would be easy to find, right?” He asked himself. “But what would we do if we were to find the place... I mean, we can talk to General Rodriguez about it, but I’m sure he would take all of the experiments there to take them apart... see what makes them tic.” He shrugged. “We can’t really do a lot. Huh? Look at you, talking to yourself.” Suddenly a kid appeared in the road. He slammed the breaks to avoid hitting her, and slammed right into her. His car was thrown into the air, flipping. The airbag shot out of the steering wheel and hit his face, snapping his head back. He yelled loudly, keeping consciousness. How the hell could one tiny child do this? Was it not a kid? What did he just hit?   
He glanced out the window, that’s when he realized his car was no longer spinning in the air, it was almost levitating. It wasn’t on the ground, but it wasn’t moving. Then, he was set down. The kid walked over to the window, peering in at Nathan. “Oops!” She smiled. She was just as scrawny as Daniel was, looking a little less sickly. Her hair was a soft blonde and her eyes were green. Nathan looked at her. “What the hell..” he grumbled, feeling the blood trickling from his head and nose. He forced the damaged door open, looking at her, and then at the car. She was perfectly fine, the car was destroyed. No one had witnessed the accident as they were on a back road where almost no one travelled. Which prompted the question: where did she come from? Nathan had plenty of questions, though. He looked at her, holding his wounded head. “Who are you?” He asked. “Melony.” She answered politely.  
“Where did you come from?” He asked. “Bad place.” She answered again. “Bad place..” He grumbled, realizing she must’ve come from Yaka’s lab. His eyes widened as he looked at the child. “Did you do this to my car?” He asked. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to, really.” The girl apologized once again. “I was just walking. And you came out of nowhere. So I minimized the density of your car so when it hit me it destroyed itself and not me.” Nathan nodded. “I see.. can you take me where you came from?” He asked. “No, sir.” She said softly. “Can you take me to Forty Four? They have number one. He’s not doing good. They want someone stronger. They sent me out to get him.” She explained. “I must return with him soon, or they will kill Number One.” Nathan looked horrified. “What?” He asked.  
“If you come of no use to me, I will leave.” She warned, looking up to the man. “Come with me. I’ll take you to Forty Four.” He said softly. “Are there more of you out there? Searching for him?” The girl nodded. “Plenty. So if you are lying, he will be found anyway.” She smiled. “Oh..” he grunted. He called Charlie. “Charlie, it’s not all of the survivors they want. They only took Kenyon because it’s what they had.. they’re after Forty Four.” He warned. “What?” Charlie asked, confused. He was still with Howl, but Gram and Cody had both went off to do whatever. “How do you know this? Where are you right now?” Nathan was now walking with the girl. “I’m on my way back. I have a girl from Yaka’s lab, she said she’s after him and if she returns without him Kenyon will be killed. That there’s more out looking for him.” “Who are you talking to?” She asked, looking up at him. “My husband, we are going to give you what you want, understand?” He asked. “Yes.” The girl responded.  
He took her back to the lab, and to the others. “Howl, where did you put the neutralizers? I know you have more.” “Jesus, Nathan! Your face!” Charlie yelled. “I’ll explain that but this is more important. Where is it?” Nathan pressured. “Where is what?” Howl asked. “The neutralization cure.” Nathan said, patiently sighing. “The what? I don’t know.” Howl said, shrugging. “You didn’t get my slushee.” He accused. “I’m sorry but I think I have something more important than you slushee, Howl.” Nathan said, slightly raising his voice. He was losing patience. “Don’t yell at me.” Howl grunted angrily. “I don’t know where it is.” Howl shrugged again. “Find it yourself!” He said, childishly. Nathan rolled his eyes, looking at Charlie. “Go find Gram and ask him. Don’t let him come in here, I don’t want this kid to react when she sees him.” He ordered.   
Charlie did as told, going and asking Gram. "Gram, do you know where the neutralizers are?" Gram nodded, getting up. "He left them in the car." He ran out to get them, and started to go to the office. "Gram, don't," Charlie gently grabbed his arm and stopped him. He took the neutralizers from him. "There's another product of Yaka in there. They want you. We don't want her to react badly when she sees you, before we can neutralize her abilities." Charlie explained as gently as he could. "Okay. Don't let her hurt Howl." He said in a monotone voice, walking off to his own office.  
Charlie nodded and returned to the office, where Nathan still had the girl. "He knew where they were." He opened one of the syringe packages, and the girl looked at him. "Take me to Forty Four. Now." She said impatiently. "You are wasting time." She complained. "I'm sorry." Charlie murmured, before injecting it into the girls neck. She dropped unconscious after staggering around angrily. Th re was something off about the girl those last few minutes. She didn't act like she had before. Nathan noticed. "She seemed like the closer she got to Forty Four, the less of her there was. Like she was programmed to get him." He pointed out.   
   "Makes sense. The lab wants him after all." Howl agreed. Nathan glanced at him, nodding. "We have to stop them.." he said silently under his breath. Howl looked up at him from his desk. "We do." He agreed. "But first we have to save all of the kids at that lab." Nathan nodded again. "Yeah, we do." He agreed, taking Charlie and going to one of the rooms to clean up. "Dammit, why can't life just return to normal?" He whined. "Why can't we be happy for more than a minute?" Charlie shook his head. "Stop whining. It's only just beginning and you know it." Charlie barked. "You were getting bored of your life anyway. I guess a little excitement is good for you." He tried to convince him. "This will all be over soon." It was like trying to soothe a child.   
Charlie gently cleaned his wounds and bandaged him, gently kissing him. "I love you." He said quietly. He knew soft moments like this wouldn't last long, and there wouldn't be many for a while, so he cherished it. He kissed Nathan's head, and smiled. "It'll be okay." He promised. Nathan looked at him. "Will it?" He asked. Charlie nodded slightly. "Stay in the infirmary with everyone, you need rest. You took some bad hits. Me, Gram and Howl will work on it." He said. Nathan nodded slightly, going and laying down. Charlie returned to Howl's lab, finding that he was now gone. Gram was in his place. "He went to bed." Charlie nodded. "Why didn't you go, too?" "Because. I knew you'd wonder where he was and go searching if I wasn't here to tell you. When he goes to bed he goes to bed, if you wake him up he won't go back to sleep. He's like a giant, intelligent toddler." He laughed a little.  
Charlie smiled. "Gram.." Charlie said. "Thank you for forgiving us." He said quietly. Gram looked at him, wanting to tell him the truth- I don't forgive you. I hate you. I'm doing it for his sake. But he didn't. Instead, he played along. "Yeah, sure." He said quietly. "I forgive and recover. Never forgive and forget. So don't you dare think for one second I trust you." He warned. Charlie looked surprised, but didn't say anything. He simply bowed his head. He knew that he'd never understand what Gram had been through, and that he could probably never make it up to him.   
Gram watched his every move like a hawk. He didn't understand why he had to come back, or why Howl wanted him here so badly. But for Howl, he would do anything. Even if it meant sacrificing his own comfort. He stood up, and walked past Charlie. "Goodnight, Charlie." He said. The words stung his mouth like a razor. Charlie returned the favor, quickly going and joining Nathan. He hadn't realized how lay it was getting.  
   That night, Gram couldn't sleep. He tried, but his mind was wild. He lay in his bed, thinking about what had happened. Was he just holding a grudge? Was he in the wrong? No. He knew he had a right to be angry. Or did he? They were trying to be nice. No, they were using them to save Number One. They didn't really care. Maybe they did.. these were the thoughts that he played over and over in his mind, mentally fighting himself all night. He didn't want to forgive them, or let his guard down, because he could get hurt again. Was that really it? He'd never been afraid of getting hurt before.   
    Why was this so different than that of anything else? The experiments, they beat him down and tore him apart everyday, and he never feared any of them. He would throw himself in harms way for Howl, he would die for him. Without fear. But he feared these people. Was it fear? He shook his head violently and sat up. "Get out of my head, dammit!" He yelled, punching the wall. He got out of bed and silently crept into Howl's room to make sure he didn't wake him. He was still sleeping peacefully. He decided to go to the infirmary and look in on the others. Not out of concern, just to see if they were there. They were, all except Cody.   
   "Bastard." He muttered, going and looking around for him. He found him in one of the labs. "What are you doing?" He asked him. "Oh, you're awake." Cody said quietly. "I'm just worrying. About that place." "Yaka's lab?" He asked. "Yeah.. Yaka's lab. And Kenyon." He said. Is he all you care about? Gram almost asked. He fought back the urge and bit his tongue. "Why don't I just go out and lure the other kids to me? The others from the lab. They're programmed to find me." He proposed. "No." Cody looked at him, without hesitation. "Don't even think about it." Why do you care? "Why..." he began to say his thought, but held back. "Why not? Kenyon is one of them. He'd come after me, too." Cody wouldn't look away from him, making eye contact. "I don't care. You will get hurt. And you've been hurt enough." Cody was in love with him.   
   It tormented him, because he knew Gram didn't love him back, and he knew if he did anything it would hurt him. He didn't want him hurt anymore. He hated himself for what he did all those years ago. Seeing Gram again, seeing him as angry and stressed as he is, all of it, tore him apart. He hadn't felt this way about anyone. Gram glared at him. "So what if I get hurt again." He snarled. Every single one of his thoughts from earlier that night came rushing back. He balled his fists up and bit his tongue to avoid letting it show. He knew he was acting irrational, but how else could he act? He'd been trying to keep calm this entire time and all it was doing was eating him. Yeah, he lashed out a few times, but that was provoked. Could anyone blame him?  
   He walked outside without a second thought, Cody hot on his trail. He had a sickening feeling as he pulled out his phone and got to the map that Howl had used to locate the others. There were two or three more little dots, not too close to where he was- Well, one of them was. He had a feeling that it was Number One. Was that this sinking feeling? This problem had been dragging on for far too long. He wanted it to end. He was thinking irrationally. He followed the dot, pulling out a gun. It was the gun he'd used to shoot Cody. He knew if Kenyon's dot was in fact showing up, he had his powers back. He didn't know how, though.   
"I think this one is Kenyon," he said quietly. "I don't k ow how it would be him. We neutralized his powers... which means they have them back. His body won't be able to take that too much longer, it may combust." "Like how everyone's did back in Code:X?" Cody asked. "Yeah, exactly... We have to find him, and fast. Or he may die." He leveled out their options. "Let's go." He walked on, straight to where the dot was. He readied the gun, knowing it may not do much if they messed with him enough. Lone behold, it was Kenyon, wandering aimlessly down the street. He looked more deathly ill than he had a few days ago, and there seemed to be a dark shadow looming around him.   
"That's him," Cody said. Gram instantly hushed him by covering his mouth. "Shut up!" He hissed silently. But it was too late, Kenyon had heard Cody's remark, and noticed them standing there. "Forty Four..." he growled under his breath. "Come with me." He said, his head lowered eerily towards the ground. His eyes were glowing. His walk had a stumble to it, like his legs were broken and he was walking on needles. This creeped Gram out, but thy didn't stop him. "Behind me!" He ordered Cody. Cody did as told, watching Kenyon's every move. How could he have let him get taken? He failed him.  
Gram pointed the gun at him and shot. The antidote bullet only went halfway in the air before it was stopped, dropping to the ground. Kenyon crooked his head, cracking the bones in his neck. "Think you can just shoot me, Forty Four? Didn't know you still felt that way about Me. I wasn't even the one to abandon you!" He teased. It wasn't really him talking, and Gram knew that, that's what kept him from losing his mind and killing him right there. "Kenyon stop." He ordered. The man didn't stop, instead, he progressed even closer.  
Gram stepped back, forcing Cody to do the same. He was beginning to realize how stupid of a mistake he made when he decided to just come outside and hunt them down. He sighed angrily at himself, and aimed his gun again. "Back up. Let us help you." He said, loudly. "I said back up." He ordered in a voice h never knew he could muster. Kenyon crook d his head to the side and his gun went sailing. In the lab, Kenyon was the weakest of all the Codes. He was the most useless. But now? Now Gram had no idea what he was capable of. From what he'd seen so far.. he was just as strong as he was now.   
Gram snarled as he watched his gun fly. He looked back at Kenyon, and began to discreetly absorb energy from the building around them, from everything that contained electricity. "Kenyon, I don't want to hurt you." He said, convincingly enough. Kenyon laughed. "Really?" He asked, as he rushed Gram. Gram yelled from surprise and he put both his hands on Kenyon's chest and electrocuted him. His whole body jolted, and Gram threw him to the ground. "You're going to die if you keep letting them control you!" He warned. It seemed to have no affect. None of it.  
   Kenyon got up, and surely enough, his body was caving in to the power. That's why it hit Gram. "Run." He whispered to Cody. "Run to the lab. Go. Wake everyone up. Tell them to get ready." Cody looked down at him, deciding to trust his instincts and do as told. Gram slowly backed up. "You want me? Come get me.." he uttered. Each attack Kenyon threw, Gram dodged, but barely. He pivoted and turned, keeping eye contact and continuing to back up. He gave up dodging and made a protecting forcefield between humans the Man. "Come on..." he uttered, finally turning and booking it to the lab. Kenyon chases him, falling for his trap.  
   Gram gets to the facility and runs inside, running straight to Where Nathan and Charlie were standing. They guarded him as Kenyon snarled and tried to break past them. "Not so fast." Nathan snarled, grabbing him quickly as he tried to run past, and injecting him. He held him still as he he squirmed. "You'll be alright, buddy.." he said, keeping the boy from hitting the ground. Charlie looked at Gram. "What the hell were you thinking?" He yelled. "You could have gotten yourself killed! Or taken to that damn lab!" Gram stayed silent, looking at him. He finally spoke. "I'm not a baby. I don't need protection." "Well obviously you do. You couldn't have waited for everyone to be up?" Gram didn't understand why Charlie was so angry, and shrugged it off. "You got what you wanted, Kenyon is safe. Don't be so angry." He said, turning and walking to his room.   
   Charlie rubbed his temples stressfully and walked back to the infirmary with Nate and Kenyon, who was now asleep. Cody went to follow Gram to his room, and Gram turn e to look at him. "Why are you following me?" He asked. "Go to your brother, whatever the hell you consider him. He's what you wanted, isn't he?" Cody rolled his eyes. "How blind are you?" He asked. "I love you. I'm happy we got him back. But I'm worried about you, dammit!" He yelled. Gram stared at him. "You what?" He asked. Cody sighed, angry for outing himself. "You fucking heard me." He said, turning and walking to the infirmary to join the others.  
    Gram walked to his room, confused. He didn't understand. But he didn't know if he wanted to. He didn't honestly believe him. He laid down, wrapping himself up in his blanket. Would it ever go back to being normal? He couldn't get comfortable. He didn't feel safe. He didn't feel okay. He got up, still with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders, and went to Howl's room. He very carefully laid down next to him, making sure he didn't wake him, and curled up. He finally felt safe enough to sleep.  
   Gram woke up to Howl moving around. Howl was up. He yawned and rubbed his eyes, rolling  over to look at him. "Morning, Gram," Howl smiled, sitting up. Gram nodded, pulling himself up as well. "Couldn't sleep last night, could you?" He asked. Gram shook his head, rubbing his eyes. "No. I couldn't." Gram stood up and stretched, hugging himself. He wandered to his room and put the blanket back where it belonged, looking at the time. "It's already eleven.." he grunted. Everyone else was probably already awake. He started looking around for everyone, and remembered last night. He went to the infirmary, where everyone had already gotten up and dispersed, besides Charlie. He sat with Kenyon, who was still asleep.   
   In the bed on Kenyon's other side, Melony laid. She looked small and fragile, ill. He knew something had to be killing her, or she wouldn't have been in the lab. Or was she already dead? Charlie would be sitting with her. It didn't matter to him. She wasn't really in his mind. Everything else was. "Good morning, Gram." Charlie said. Somehow he knew it was him without turning and looking at him. "You slept in today." He said quietly. Gram wandered over, crossing his arms and looking at Kenyon. "He will be fine." He said, softly. Charlie looked at him, his green eyes piercing through him. "I know." He said. "And you?" Gram looked at him as of saying "you don't care." But that's not what he said. Instead, he said "I'm fine."   
   "Yaka will be searching for you." Charlie said. "He already is." Gram stated bluntly. "No. He was sending others out to look for you. He will be coming for you himself now. Now that he's seen three failures finding you. There wasn't but three or four kids." Charlie explained. "So I don't think he will be very happy about that." Gram rolled his eyes. What's it matter to you? He thought. "Okay." He stammered out. Charlie looked at him. He stood up and walked to the door. "I'm going to get coffee." He sighed, walking away. Gram watched him leave, and stood over Kenyon. He looked down at him.   
   Kenyon was still fast asleep. He didn't look like the child he did way back then, all those years ago. He was paler, and his hair was much longer. It was thin and black, and came down to the arch of his back. He was lanky, but still not anorexic looking. Daniel and Melony has both looked starved, he on the other hand was healthier, probably because he'd only been there for a few days. A few days was enough to turn him into a monster, a few months was enough to erase the minds of these other kids. It horrified him. Why was Yaka doing this? Why was he so hellbent on finding him? He grunted. Was it his fault? No. It couldn't have been.  
   He heard Howl and the others talking in one of the other rooms, and went to where they were. "Just because we have Kenyon back doesn't mean that this is over, not by any means." Nathan was talking. "He's probably pissed that we have him, really. He was his only way of manipulating us into giving him Gram." Charlie nodded. "So what do you think his next move will be? To com after us himself?" "Possibly," Nathan shrugged. "No. That would be risky on his behalf." Howl uttered. "If he's smart he'd notice that each time he's sent someone after Gram we neutralized them." "Yes But what if he somehow found a way around it?" Nathan argued.   
  Gram stayed dead silent, listening to their debate and considering everything that was being said. He would in fact realize that each attacker he's sent had been neutralized, he probably already realized it, it's been days. Of course, he has all the time in the world to find him- depending on why he's doing it. He had to have opened the project back up for a reason. He needs the perfect super soldier for something, and it wasn't for any world war like Rodriguez had planned, because the war had ended years ago, a year or so after Howl dropped the project.   
   Yaka's plans were probably even more sinister than what Rodriguez had wanted. But what could they be? World domination, mass genocide, who knew. If Yaka really wanted Gram, and it was dire needs, he would most likely stop at nothing. Which could mean anything, he could continue abducting children, he could come to this lab and spy on them, he could take any of the other survivors again if they left this building. He could do anything.  
  "Gram?" Nathan's voice shook him from his thoughts. Gram looked at him, not saying anything, just giving a confused look. "You alright?" He asked. Gram nodded. "Yeah. Why?" He asked. Nathan shrugged a bit. "You were just staring at the wall for like.. ten minutes straight. We thought it was some kind of episode." He said. "No. Just thinking." He explained. "Do we have any way to tell what exactly he wants?" He asked. "Why he's doing this at all?" Nathan shook his head. "No. My best guess is he was really into the experiment, and didn't want it to stop." "Rodriguez has sense admitted the only reason he wanted super soldiers was to help win the war. So there would be no point in doing it anymore. Unless he has some other reason." Gram pointed out. Charlie looked at him. "He's right." He agreed quietly. Howl held his head.   
   "Howl? What's wrong?" Gram asked, concerned. "I'm trying to think. What drove me to want it so bad. I didn't care about the war and I still don't." He admitted. "It was like you had this god complex." Nathan explained. "You lost your mind." "I know." Howl reminded. "But something was driving me to do it!" Gram raised an eyebrow. "Right." He agreed. "But every persons views are different. You had a certain pusher, he probably does, too. They can't be the same." Nathan argued. Gram rolled his eyes. Thank you captain obvious. He thought.   
   He didn't say it out loud, no, he just kind of thought it. He wandered off without saying anything, something the others had gotten use to by now, and walked around the place. He wanted to be alone to think, their babbling was getting on his nerves. Maybe Yaka was just crazy like Howl was. He hadn't seen him, or spoke to him, so there was no telling. He was probably more violent than Howl was, seeing how got results so fast. Could he have just wanted them? How hard was he really willing to work to get Gram? He went to his office. He had a bad gut feeling. It made him feel unsafe, but he dismissed it as stress.   
    Bad move. Someone stood in the darkest corner of his office, hidden, invisible to the naked eye. They watched him, waiting for the perfect moment to attack. By the time Gram realized he wasn't alone, it was too late. Whoever it was came out of hiding, quickly slamming Gram's head on the desk hard enough to knock him out cold almost instantly. When he awoke, he was on a cold surface, a feeling all too familiar. He couldn't open his eyes all the way for the burning lights over him. He could hear the sounds of shoes all around him and the slight rolling sound. He was being taken somewhere.   
    The paralyzing fear he never knew he had slowly began to rise up. What was was this? Yaka's lab.. he tried to force his eyes open. Above him were doctors wearing masks. He recognized their eyes, they had been in the lab when he was a child. He tried to thrash around, but his limbs were tethered down to the table, bound by his wrists and ankles. He tried to scream out, slowly realizing that there was a tube going down his throat, taped to his lips. Tears swelled in his eyes, as the panic only grew. He couldn't wrap his mind around what was going on. He closed his eyes again, hoping it was all a dream. Hoping that when he opened them again, he would be back at the lab, this being just some kind of dream, a terrible nightmare.   
   He must've fallen asleep again, somehow. Because when he opened his eyes, he was no longer tied down. He was in a white room, quite like at the old facility, the walls completely cleared, all except for one. It was white, yes, but a huge rectangular black window thing. He knew exactly what it was. It was a one way see through window. He knew someone had to be watching from the other side. There was a door that was just as white as the walls, and a camera was right above it. He glared at the camera, then at the window. He was hesitant to move.   
    Very, very slowly he moved his fingers, making sure they could still move. Then his arms, toes, ankles, legs. Everything seemed to be working fine. That's when he decided to look down. There was a stabbing pain through his neck. He yelped and grabbed at his neck, feeling a soft leathery feeling. There was some kind of collar attached. He didn't try to tug at it, instead felt around it. All the way around his neck. That's when he realized it was physically attached to the back of his neck, going into the base of his skull. What the hell had these bastards done? He groaned, very carefully and hesitantly lowering his feet to the ground. The ground was cold, burning his naked feet.   
   He stood up, holding onto the table where he was laying for support. He wasn't sure what he was doing. Or where he was trying to get with standing up. Just feeling the comfort that his legs could still hold him up was a relief. He stumbled to the door and tried to open it, and as soon as he touched it his whole body felt a jolt of electricity. He stiffened, pulling away from the door. Was it a shock collar? Did they put a shock collar on him? He growled, going to the window, shakily. He glared directly at it, his fear and panic being replaced with anger momentarily. "Bastards!" He screamed, being electrocuted again as soon as he touched the window.  
Howl was cranky, wanting a slushee. Nathan rolled his eyes. "You're a child.." He complained. Howl looked at him. "All I Said was I wanted a slushee!" He whined. Charlie sat, watching them bicker. "Honest to god, Nathan, just go buy him a slushee. He won't focus unless you do." Nathan looked at him. "Giving him what he wants is rewarding bad behavior!" Charlie shrugged. "So? It works." He said, pulling his bangs out of his face. "Just go buy him a slushee. Please?" He asked nicely. Nathan rolled his eyes. "I'm taking your car. Last time I went to get a slushee mine was destroyed." He was passive aggressively complaining.   
Charlie knew exactly what he was doing, and scolded him. "I don't want to deal with two giant two year olds, now go!" He yelled. Howl looked at Charlie. "I'm not a giant two year old." He pouted. Charlie glanced at him. He knew he couldn't help it, and chose not to yell at him. But he knew Nathan could in fact help it. "I know you're not, Howl, but don't you agree that Nathan is being childish?" He smirked. Nathan looked betrayed. "How dare you." He hissed. "Fine. I'll go." He grabbed Charlie's keys from him and walked out, going to the car.   
Howl's focus has again come back. He had realized something was bad wrong almost instantly upon gaining his sense of reality. "Where is Gram?" He asked. Charlie looked at him. "I don't know? He probably went to his office. Maybe one of the labs?" He prompted. "Go look." Howl ordered. Charlie nodded, getting up. He went and searched the whole building. When he couldn't find him, he got worried. He went back to Howl. "He's not here." He said quietly. "Well find him!" Howl snarled. Charlie put his hands up. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, leaving the room and calling Nathan.   
   "Hello?" Nathan picked up. "I got the slushee this time." "Nathan, I need you to keep an eye out for Gram. He's gone." "He's gone? What do you mean he's gone?" "He's not here." "He couldn't have just disappeared! No one saw him leave?" He asked. "No." Charlie uttered. "Dammit. There's too many workers there. And all of the kids, ask around!" He ordered. Charlie did as told, asking around. Everyone told him the same thing, they saw him go to his office and that was it. He went to his office one more time, to look for anything he may have missed the first time.   
   He went to the desk, examining it closely. He saw the spot of blood where Gram's head had been split, and his stomach dropped. "Shit!" He balled his fist up. He knew exactly what had happened. Someone got him, and took him to the lab. Maybe it was an inside job, and someone who'd been working here was a traitor, teaming up with Yaka. That would have made this so much easier for them to accomplish. He was pissed, to say the least. Cody came to him, confused. "What's wrong, Charlie?" He asked. "They got him." He hissed. "They got Gram."   
   Cody felt angry, worried, and guilty. He put his hands to his head, running his fingers through his hair, tramping to keep calm. "Fuck." He growled. "We have to wake Kenyon up. Will he wake up? Has it been long enough?" He asked. Charlie shook his head. "That medicine we gave him last night induces a coma like state for twenty four hours. It's only been thirteen." He explained. Cody snarled. "God dammit!" He screamed. He wasn't trying to conceal his anger at all. Any of his emotions. He didn't see point in it. "It's a waste of time, just standing here!"   
   Charlie watched him. "Calm yourself. It's a waste of energy to throw a fit. Nathan is out right now, if he sees anything he's gonna follow it. I already called him." "We know where the lab is, we should go down there right now." Cody spat. Charlie nodded. "We don't have a car." He said quietly. "There's over twenty workers here. One of them is bound to let us have their vehicle." He hissed. Charlie asked around until he got to Olivia, who nodded happily and gave them her keys. Charlie went to Howl, asking him to give them the map, which he did.  
   They ran outside and got in the car, speeding off. They followed the trail to the building, and to their disappointment it was fake. It was an old run down cabin, and no matter how much they searched inside, it was just a cabin. Nothing special. "How the hell.. the map says there's a lab right here." Cody complained. "He must've..." Charlie thought aloud. "He probably knew about it. Knew we could find him via the signals given off by the subjects." He said. "How could he have faked it though?" He asked. "I.. have no idea. Maybe he messed with the software. Made it get the coordinations  wrong." He shrugged.  
  Days had went by now, but Gram didn't know that. He didn't know how long it had been, he hadn't left that room. He was given water once a day, and was becoming dehydrated. He hadn't been fed in god only knows how long, but he didn't know that, either. He didn't remember. He stayed curled up in the floor most of the time, singing his song to himself ever so silently, "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.." to keep himself calm. They weren't hurting him, in fact, he hadn't seen a human being or any other living being sense he got here, sense he saw those faces above him when he first arrived. The solitude was killing him, eating away at his mind. He wanted to talk and have anyone respond, but when he tried there was no response, so eventually he gave up all together. The only interaction he had was when he went to the door or window, he was electrocuted.   
   He did that a lot, because he was just so bored and the pain gave him a sense of existence. Showing him he was still alive, and awake. He didn't know how aware he was. He hadn't slept- or had he? He didn't remember. He stood up, circling the room. He went to the window, and stood there. He didn't get close enough to get electrocuted, just stood there, staring at the glass. He decided he could try and escape. He used his abilities to throw the table/bed at the window, cracking it, but it was merely a scratch.   
    Outside the room, a woman stood. She didn't even flinch as the bed thing hit the window, and she smiled. "Finally. A reaction." She recorded it. "Forty Four has taken to hostility. He's ready for phase two." And send. She waited, and greeted Yaka as he approached. "How bad is his reaction?" He asked, standing next to her and looking in. He had resumed his position in the floor. "He stood at the window, staring, and then used his abilities to throw the bed." She said, pointing to the crack. "He had some force to it. This window is suppose to be resilient to anything." Yaka nodded.   
    The man was tall, and broad shouldered. His hair was long, and white. "Has he spoke?" He asked. "Just the song." She said softly. He nodded. "Phase two shall begin." He ordered, walking off. The woman nodded, pushing a few buttons on the pad outside the wall.  
   As Gram sat there, he stared at the window. He knew someone was out there, watching him. Or was there? They could have all abandoned him. Everyone does. Right? He wondered if anyone would ever open that door again. If he would ever be saved. He thought about Howl. Was he just gonna let him die here? He thought about Charlie and Nathan. They didn't care. They never did. No way they'd come. Then he wondered about Cody. Cody told him he loved him. This was his time to prove it. Gram smirked a little at his own stupidity. Cody had abandoned him once before. He knew not to put any hope in him.  
   As he stared at the door, he forgot to blink, and his eyes began to burn. He blinked, forcing his eyes closed and rubbing them. He heard it. A sound. A sound other than his own heart beat, than his own thoughts or breathing. It was a creak. He looked up, seeing the door slightly open. What? What was that? He scooted away from it, fearing what was going to come through. He didn't know what to expect. A tall man in a weird suit came in. He wasn't dressed as a doctor, it was all black. Even his face was covered.   
   He advanced in the boy, looking down at him with stormy gray eyes. Gram had a sinking feeling, like he was doomed. The man lifted the boy up by his throat, slamming him down on the ground roughly, with so much force it knocked the breath out of Gram. He wheezed, grabbing his side. For some reason, it hurt more than his neck. As he felt it, he knew exactly what happened. One of his ribs were broken. The man started to sing. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.." he almost whispered. "You make me happy, when skies are gray." He grabbed a handful of the boy's hair and threw him across the room.   
   "You'll never know, dear, how much I love you." The song has once soothed Gram, But now the words were sickening. The man followed where he'd thrown him and kicked his stomach as hard as he could. "Please don't take my sunshine away." He lifted the boy again, throwing him on the table and ripping his shirt off. Gram snarled, thrashing around violently. He tried to scream, but his voice broke, and his mouth was open to scream but no sound came out. The man licked from right below his belly button up to his clavicles, much to Gram's dismay. He then pulled some kind of knife from his pocket. Gram's eyes locked on it, his sense of danger growing stronger by the second.   
   The man's sickening voice continued to sing that song on repeat as he pressed the knife to his stomach and drug it across. Gram shrieked in agony, struggling to get away. He couldn't, of course, because this man was much bigger. It triggered a violent reaction in his brain. Much more violent than it had ever gotten before. Every single light in the building literally exploded, all of the glass doing the same. Anything electrical caught fire. Gram kept shrieking, making the chaos worse. Everything hurt. Everything burned. He was absorbing all of the energy of the building into his body. His hands started to burn worse than they ever had before, and he shot all of the electricity and energy he had in his system from his palms, directly into the man.   
   The suit he'd been wearing, that had been designed to withstand electrical shocks, caught fire. The man began screaming for help and several scientists came rushing in to his aid. Gram managed to pull his legs up to his chest, despite the pain in his body from resuming this position, and held himself as the fire burned around him. He put up a protective shield around himself to keep from being hurt anymore.  
   It was in the news now, a huge fire taking place in a secluded laboratory in the middle of Louisiana. Cody was watching the news on his phone when he saw it. "It's Gram." He yelled, instantly throwing his phone and getting up. He ran outside to the car without hesitation, driving off. He didn't even stop to let anyone know where he was going. He just left. The lab wasn't too far away from where he was, as it was a prototype lab of Howl's facility, so he was there in under fifteen minutes. When he got there, he pulled up behind the building, in the woods surrounding, so that the car was hidden. He ran out from his hiding spot and shoved through the firefighters who begged him not to go inside, warning that it was an electrical fire, and that it burned worse than regular fires.  
   He ignored them, rushing inside. He got burnt several times, covering his mouth with a rag to avoid inhaling any smoke, and searched until he found him. "Gram.." He said, softly. "It's me.." he coughed, kneeling down in front of him and looking at the bubble. He saw how hurt he was, and felt sick to him stomach. Gram looked at him. "You're not real.. you're not really here.." he repeated.   
   Cody wheezed. It was getting hard for him to breathe. "Gram.. I'm really here. It's me.. I've been looking for you..." he promised. "I need you to trust me.. or they're gonna come in here and they'll take you to a bad place and take you apart.." he warned. Gram's teary eyes look up at him. All he could think was that this was a hallucination. Cody never came back for him before. Why would he come now? But he let his protection bubble down, and wrapped his arms tightly around Cody, burying his face in his chest. Cody gently lifted him up bridal style and carried him out, climbing out one of the windows and sneaking around to avoid being caught by any of the fire fighters.   
   Cody ran out to the car and set him in the front passenger-side seat. He got in the drivers seat, and leaned on the steering wheel, having a coughing fit. "Gram I'm so sorry." He said between coughs. "I'm so sorry I didn't come in time." He looked at him, covering his mouth as his coughing fit slowly died down. He looked at his body, at the giant, bleeding wound on his stomach. At the collar and the burns around it all over his neck, at his arms and hands. His tendons and palms were burnt so badly that the skin wasn't even there anymore, just a bloody mess. He was shaking badly, still feeling that mans touch, his tongue, the blade. He still heard him singing that song.   
   Gram didn't look at him. But he finally spoke. "You never came before. You never even thought about Me. You would've never seen me again if I didn't come looking for you. You never cared." He was talking in a rush. "Why didn't you ever come back for me before? I waited for you.. for years.." he sobbed. Cody couldn't stand to see him this way. "I'm so sorry.. I don't know. I was stupid. You can hit me all you want. You can hate me. I hate me too." He said softly, giving him conformity that was desperately needed. He took his jacket off and gave it to Gram, leaning over and gently wrapping it around his shoulders. "Here.." he said quietly. Gram held onto it, sliding his arms into the sleeves. He wrapped his arms tightly around Cody again, burying his face in his shoulder. Cody held onto him, rubbing his back gently.   
   He drove him back to the lab, carrying him in and not letting a single soul touch him. He took him to the infirmary, and laid him down on one of the beds. "Nathan, Charlie, you two fix him. Help him." He ordered. They instantly got to work, keeping their panicking emotions bottled up and keeping their professional sides out. They got the other workers there to help Cody's Burns, and give him a physical evaluation. He had inhaled a lot of smoke and sustained minor injuries, but other than that he was okay.  
When Gram woke up, he kept his eyes closed. He wasn't hurting, his body was numb. It was a weird sensation, he gently moved his fingers, trying to feel something, anything. It was odd to not have any feeling there. He felt a warm embrace around his hand. He kept his eyes closed, not wanting the comfort of darkness to abandon him. He listened carefully to everything around him. Machines. A lot of them. They were quiet, but he recognized the buzzing and gentle beeps. Other than that and distant voices and sho s clacking as people walked by, it was silent.   
Where was he? Which lab was he in? Did he even want to know? His memory was hazy, and he didn't really remember a lot of the recent events. He only remembered a fire, and crying, and that damn song. He finally decided to open his eyes. For the first time, he opened his eyes to darkness. It was the infirmary, and because it was night, the lights were off. Cody was holding his hand with his head laid on the bed, and there were people in the beds on either side of him. He didn't know who they were. But he was thankful to be home. He let Cody hold his hand as he struggled to remember. Slowly, but surely, it came back to him. All of it.   
He smiled a little, looking at Cody. He'd proven himself, and Gram finally decided it was safe to forgive him. Forgive and recover, not forgive and forget. He still wouldn't let his guard down around him, or any of the others, but he forgave them. He was in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night, sometimes being halfway awake for the doctors coming over To check on him, sometimes not being at all awake, but he got the rest he needed. When he woke up completely, it was light again. He looked around and the room was mostly empty besides for Cody sitting next to him. "Did you leave at all?" He asked weakly. Cody, surprised at him being awake so soon, jumped a bit. But instead of yelling "you're awake!" Or "how do you feel?" He smiled and said "not even to pee." Gram smiled slightly at him, forcing himself to sit.  
Cody helped him, not wanting to stop him. "Thank you for coming for me.." he said quietly. Cody looked at him, the sweetest sadness in his eyes, and said "I couldn't just leave you there to die." He looked him over. "That shock collar thing is gone. We burnt it." "You burnt it?" He asked. Cody nodded. "Sure did. It pissed us off." Gram smiled a little. "I see.." Cody liked seeing him laugh, seeing his cute little smile. "You did it." He said softly. "You killed everyone of those bastards who did this to you." Cody reassured him. "Even Yaka?" Gram asked. "Even Yaka. Want to see?" He asked.  
"Don't tell me you went as far as to bring his body here.." Gram started. "No. Ew." Cody shivered as he pulled up a video on his phone. Images and videos of the building- or what was left of it- flashed on the screen while a woman reporter's voice explained. "Twenty seven bodies were found, all charred beyond recognition. Police say the fire was a freak accident, and that they don't suspect foul play. There are no survivors." Gram smirked. "This is the second time I've lived through a "no survivors" incident." Cody laughed. "Zombie boy."   
Hesitantly, Cody pushed the bangs from Gram's face, and his eyes weren't as dull as usual. "Your eyes are really pretty.." he said softly. Gram just looked at him, and allowed the following events to happen. Cody kissed him ever so gently, pressing his lips to his. He held the side of his face with his hand and gently Caressed his cheek with his thumb, and for Cody the world had stopped. They were the only two who existed, and Gram was the only thing that mattered. He wanted this moment to continue forever, never ending. After a minute, he broke this kiss with a smile. "You let me kiss you.." He said softly. "I didn't say you could stop." Gram smiled back, kissing him gently again. It was just a pec, nothing like the previous kiss.   
   Cody's eyes lit up and his cheeks burned with a light pink. He smiled brightly at Gram. "I love you.." He said quietly. Gram looked at him, reading his emotions. "I love you too." He finally responded.


	4. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the incident, Gram knows something isn’t sitting right, but chooses not to go any further into it, giving him and the others a chance to return to normal and life happily- but how long will it last?

Gram lay in bed, thinking about everything. It had been a few weeks sense the big incident, but everything was still setting. He thought about it often, worrying that Yaka didn't die. He didn't see him die. The bodies were charred beyond recognition. He didn't know for sure if he really killed him. It couldn't have been that easy. Nothing was every that easy. Right? He felt himself begin to shake but he couldn't stop it.  
He had an uneasy feeling. Could it have just been his abilities kicking in? Could it have just been an episode? Was he upset? He couldn't tell, he couldn't focus. He felt acid in his eyes, burning. "He's not dead." He mumbled, letting some of his mind open. "It's not over. I know he's not.." he closed his eyes tightly, sending the tears streaming down his cheeks. Why was he so emotional? Why was everything so hard to deal with now? Before, none of it would have mattered. What was happening?  
Out of nowhere, a gentle voice was speaking. "Gram... what's wrong?" It was Cody. Gram opened his eyes and looked at him. "I don't think he's dead." He admitted. He'd slowly grown to trust Cody more and more over the weeks sense the accident, and talked around him a lot more. "I didn't see him die." Cody sighed, climbing into the bed with him and sitting next to him. "Gram.. no one else besides you survived that fire. The only reason you're here is your protective shield you put up." He reminded. "Everyone else burned to death." "But he could have escaped, he could have not even been in that building, I never left that room.." he whimpered. "I don't even know if he was there."  
Cody shook his head, gently laying down and wrapping his arms around Gram. "Hey.. it's alright. It's over." He promised. "We won't let him hurt you ever again if he is alive." Gram held on. "You can't always be here to protect me." He argued. Cody shook his head. "Maybe not. I won't. But Charlie will be here. Nathan will be here. Howl will be here." He promised. "Someone will always here here." Gram looked at him. "I'm scared." He admitted. Cody nodded a little. "It's okay to be scared." He promised.  
Gram sat up, pulling himself out of the bed. "Come on. Let's go get coffee. The others are waiting." Cody smiled, getting up with him. Gram nodded and headed to the cafeteria, where Howl and the others sat. Nathan had his arms around Howl while Charlie sat and ate his breakfast, which was pancakes. Gram sat down across from them, rubbing his eyes, which were still red from the tears. "What's wrong?" Nathan asked. "Nothing, don't worry." Gram promised. "Just a nightmare." He lied, and Cody looked at him, but didn't say anything.   
  "The coffee is good, it's warm." Charlie smiled softly. Gram stayed a little distant, nodding and smiling as the others talked, Cody keeping his arm around him protectively. Maybe Cody was right, and Yaka wasn't out there anymore. Maybe he was dead. As time passed, Charlie, Nathan, and Howl got back together. Gram and Cody got closer. All went back to normal, like a happy ending. All of the other survivors had left the lab, returning to their normal lives. Cody graduated college, setting his goals into becoming a scientist at the lab instead of a surgeon.


End file.
